B
New England Patriots
The Patriots won the night they stopped McCaffrey from sliding. Grade: B.
by NE4EVER ·
2024 NFL Draft
· 10 picks
· 5 steals
· 1 reaches
Somebody in pick No. 193 was going to get robbed, and it turned out to be the rest of the league. The Patriots sat still while Luke McCaffrey, the No. 149 name on the board, slid all the way to them, then sprinted to the podium. No fireworks, but a solid B.
Reed has a lot of ground to make up just to look fairly priced. For all the activity, interior defensive lineman went untouched, which is hard to explain.
With interior defensive lineman and running back unsolved, spending premium capital on OLB-EDGE is the choice that costs them.
Add it up and it is a good, unfussy class.
Pick-by-Pick
In pick 3 they get a matchup problem out wide at fair value. It fills the loudest need on the roster.
Good price on Bo Nix in slot 34, a hair ahead of his grade with no real quibbles. A real hole, addressed with a reasonable pick.
Kiran Amegadjie at the Round 3 slot is right where the board had him, plain and simple. Another box on the needs board, quietly ticked.
A want over a need in the 115th pick: Javon Solomon adds an OLB-EDGE while interior defensive lineman and running back keeps waiting.
Josh Newton is a better player than the 137th overall pick suggests; smart patience, rewarded. A quiet depth add at a thin-ish spot.
They let Mohamed Kamara come to them and pounced at No. 149. A glaring weakness, addressed head on.
Circle this one: Kitan Oladapo at Round 6, Pick 5 is a fall that decides a draft. Better still, it is exactly the hole they had to fill.
The board fumbled Luke McCaffrey all the way to pick No. 193, and they scooped it up. A must-fix position, and they treated it like one.
They talked themselves into Austin Reed at the 231st pick, and the board did not agree. It fills a real need, too.
They stopped a slide they were happy to see, landing Trey Knox in No. 238. It shores up a spot that genuinely needed the help.